One Week to Go...

According to my doctor, I can start to lightly “jog” in another week. My progress will be determined on that ever reliable measure: pain. Which means that if it doesn’t hurt, I can run… I mean, “jog.”

But that also means I’ll have to admit to myself if and when my leg does hurt. The last thing I’d love to do right now is jump up to a full fracture and not run until next summer. So, I’ll be reminding myself for the next week that I’m not Mr. Tough Guy for now. Just Ms. Slightly Sensitive.

All this drumming up to running, however, has had me pumped all week long. I renewed my rec. center membership and hit 1) the elliptical for an hour on Thursday (yes, I’m permitted to do that!); and 2) the pool for 1,500 yards on Friday. It was nice to get my legs moving and heart pumping on the elliptical—even if it really isn’t like running. I noticed that my cardio health isn’t quite what it was a month ago (I could feel myself wheezing a tad after an hour), and I imagine the never-ending didn’t help. Something to work on…

But to my surprise, swimming wasn’t bad at all. When I swam as a kid/teen, it was torture coming back from any hiatus between winter and summer swimming. I had a little bit of tightness that shook out around 300 yards, and then felt all right. Yesterday I swam:

• 1,000 yards free
• 300 yards one-armed fly
• 200 yards free

Not exactly the 5,000-yard workouts I left back in September, but I’ll start building up. It also gave me hope that my outlook on the running front might not be as bleak as I imagined.

Amidst all my lacking blog updates, I have been busy with finishing my master’s degree, procuring a new job and looking for a house in the Cleveland area (I’ve also kept up with yoga and pilates—but that’s not at all interesting to write/read about). But on the tri-training front: I’m looking for a new bike. I’ve been scouring various sites looking for a good, used bike, but I’m still trying to figure out what I want/should want.

When I visited my doctor a couple weeks ago, she had a cycling magazine in the examination room that included an article about choosing bike for triathletes. How handy! So, I’m learning, just not sure. Although I have promised several people I would consult with them before making ANY bicycle purchases! At least I have someone watching my back.